Russian Extremist Group Denies Involvement in Hoax Bomb Threats Disrupting Europe

An extremist misogynistic group named in hoax bomb threats sent to Italian airports this week has denied any connection to the false warnings, which have caused flight disruption across Europe. The group, known as the Male State, responded dismissively when contacted by the BBC Russian Service, as reports of further bomb scares continued to emerge.

Among the latest incidents were a threat against a Ryanair flight from Rome to Lisbon and one involving a Wizz Air flight from Prague to Rome, which was diverted to Venice. On Friday, bomb threats were also reported against several high-profile Irish media organisations, triggering evacuations and prompting the Irish government to describe the events as a co-ordinated campaign of disruption.

Responding via a Telegram account, one of several linked to the Male State and its founder Vladislav Pozdnyakov, the group ridiculed the idea that it had emailed the threats. "What Male State? Where have you seen it? It hasn't existed for many years," the message read. "If tomorrow they sign a [threat] letter, say, from Putin, will you then try to reach our president to ask your stupid question?" The group was banned in Russia in 2021 and Pozdnyakov is now believed to live abroad. In some places it has rebranded itself as the Male Legion.

The initial hoax email, seen by the BBC, was sent on Thursday at 07:21 with the subject line warning of a threat. It was addressed to several offices and individuals at Aeroporti di Roma, the company that manages Rome's airports, as well as accounts at Fiumicino airport. The originating address appears to be linked to state health services in Bogota, Colombia. It remains unclear whether airports or airlines in other countries received the same or a similar threat, and at least one warning made on Friday appears to have been delivered by phone rather than email.

The message sent to Rome, written in flawless Italian, claimed that fighters of the Male State had planted explosives on two incoming flights in an attack on Italy's feminist regime that would be remembered forever. One flight was diverted and ordered to land in France, while another was escorted into Rome by Italian air force jets, scrambled for the second time this week. No explosives were found on either aircraft, nor on any other plane that reported receiving a bomb threat. A source at the Rome airport company told the BBC such warnings were extremely unusual, saying they could not recall anything similar in recent years.

Despite the denial, Italy's La Stampa newspaper appeared convinced of the group's responsibility, asking whether it was acting as the regime's armed wing. "Attacking, and being able to deny the attacks..is part of the Russian game plan," the paper wrote. A Telegram channel linked to Pozdnyakov is dominated by virulently pro-Russian messaging about the war in Ukraine, alongside posts highlighting tensions and problems in Europe, including recent youth protests. The investigative group Bellingcat, which studied the Male State in 2022, described it as a vocal and vile online booster of the Russian invasion with a clear extremist far-right ideology.

As investigators across Europe work to establish who is behind the wave of hoax messages, and whether they are co-ordinated or the work of copycats, Italy's defence minister Guido Crosetto warned of a strategy to increase chaos. Crosetto said he had been speaking about the hybrid threat to Europe for years.

"It seems to me that, day after day, from incidents involving refrigerators to the blood supply in France and now these false alarms, there are those who have an interest in fuelling tensions," Crosetto said on Thursday, referring to recent cyber attacks that raised supermarket fridge temperatures and destroyed large quantities of produce. "Our interest is to do the opposite and ensure the country's security."